Misuse of climate funds

Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) released a report on January 23 stating that due to lack of good governance, projects are approved for areas that are less endangered than others. The report is a study of six of the 108 projects that involve Tk 353 crore which are being implemented by various government bodies such as the city corporations, district councils and municipalities. 

Irregularities in both financing and the presence of graft in implementation point to a very grim picture for projects undertaken, and that too without proper evaluation or following the established procedures of undertaking government projects and using public funds. If nepotism and political considerations are going to take precedence in selecting and financing projects under the Climate Change umbrella, and if these allegations hold up, then we are spelling trouble for a lot of affected communities nationwide. 

Good governance is one area this paper has advocated for and will continue to do so. Graft has always been a major impediment to our development and now political considerations and nepotism appear to have been added to our list of woes. We are particularly concerned by the fact that authorities deemed it necessary to not make information public on four of the six projects covered by the study. We wonder why that is so. Information swept under the carpet have a nasty tendency to surface and we hope that the authorities would take the report as an inspection report and take prompt action to bring the management of the fund under the established norms.